Aeroplane



Jan. 12, 1932. MlNoR 1,840,594

AEROPLANE Filed Dec. 4, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

i l/am BY Jan. 12, 1932. v MINOR 1,840,594

AEROPLANE Filed Dec. 4, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

BY W fflll%/ ATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 12, 1932 VICTOR MINOR, OF LEE'ION, MISSOURI AEROPLANE Application filed December 4, 1926. Serial No. 152,578.

This invention relates to flying machines and contemplates the provision of means to control the pressure and reactions due to the frictional drag of the air on bodies that move through it and forms a continuation in part of an application filed by me on or about November 5, 1920, Serial No. 421,976, which is now abandoned and which contained subjectmatter common to an application filed July 15, 1918, Serial No. 244,889, which was a continuation of an application filed March 3, 1916, Serial No. 81,870, which was expressly abandoned.

I have found by experience that by pro- Viding a member movable independently of the form to which it is attached, the oncoming air may be vaulted with great force from or toward the chord of cambered surfaces, the convexity or concavity governing the di rection of the vaulted currents and the tangential force thereby rendered more effective;

- therefore on an aeloplane I prefer to use up- "ardly arched wings provided with a member or element of suitable material moving in a curved line transversely and independently of the wing form. I may use members revolving around two or more centers or menu bets rotating around one center to provide superficial motion, this motion being independent of the frame does not affect the shape or speed of translation of the wings, and by associating with the movable elements rigid surfaces the reactions of the air may be controlled in a manner to increase the lift, decrease the drift, and establish a more'constant center of pressure, the elements being so arranged that the oncoming air cannot produce a dowmvard or retarding force on the inner surfaces of the wing. The movable members may be driven by the main engine or an auxiliary source of power (not shown) so that the members may be driven at the most suitable speed relative to the speed of translation and weight carried by 3 the wings. thus insuring safe and economical llight with a wide range of speeds. The independently movable members may be applied to all of the wing surfaces or to effective parts thereof, this being determined by the i use to which the aeroplane is to be put.

In practice the moving elements vault or throw the oncoming air tangentially, resulting in decreasing the pressure above the wings at the desired point and in increasing the pressure at a corresponding point below the wings, the combined effect being to increase the lift of the plane, it being understood that the vaulted air both above and below the plane will then curve inwardly and will produce an area of pressure on opposite sides of a tapered wing behind the point of greatest camber. As the pressure is on incliued surfaces the combined tendency is to increase the speed or forward movement of the aeroplane under the impetus of the propeller.

In actual practice I may employ a travelling surface comprising an endless covering or a plurality of coverings, adapted to travel at relatively high speeds, which will be determined by the weight of the plane and its speed of translation, although a plurality of driven rollers may be employed at effective points on the exposed surface of the plane, as will hereinafter appear. It is to be also pointed out that the upper exposed surface of the driven elements move in a direction opposite to the direction of flight while the lower exposed surface of the driven elements beneath the plane or wings will travel in the direction of flight, except where used to vault air currents into a cavity in the lower front face of a plane.

The novel arrangement of parts as well as the advantages will appear hereinafter by reference to the following description, it being understood that changes in form, proportion and details of construction may be re sorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or without sacrificing any of its advantages.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a top plan View of an aeroplane constructed in accordance with my invention, parts being broken away to show the wing construction and engine drive connections.

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line II-II of Figure 1, parts being broken away to show the drive mechanism.

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross section of a modified form of wing from that shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is another modified form in which a plurality of driven rollers are substituted for the endless covering, a portion of the fuselage being shown to illustrate the method of driving the rollers.

Figure 5 is a viewsimilar to Figure 1 and illustrates a plurality of driven rollers, said rollers being located at effective points, and one of them being exposed through the under side of the plane.

Figure 6 is a section on the line VIVI of Figure 1 and illustrates a type of driven roller which is especially advantageous when used at the leading edge of ailerons and elevators although it may also be used on the leading edge of the main wing of an aeroplane.

Figure 7 is an enlarged section on the line VII-VII of Figure 1 to illustrate the method of driving the entering roller and aileron.

In the said drawings, where like reference characters identify corresponding parts in all of the figures, first proceeding to describe the power plant and drive connections which are common to all the modifications of the invention, indicates the fuselage of the aeroplane and 2 the power plant thereof. In the device as illustrated the power plant is the main engine of the aeroplane, although it will be understood that any suitable power plant may be used for driving the devices of the invention. The power plant 2 drives a series of meshed gears 3 to operate a friction plate 4 forming one member of a drive mechanism and the movement of said friction plate 1 may be controlled through a clutch mechanism 5 controlled by a suitable cable 6 leading to the driver's seat. The friction plate 4 is adapted to drive a friction disk 7 splined on a transversely extending shaft 8 within the fuselage and through suitable con nections 0, the operator of the plane may vary the speed or even reverse the direction of ro tion of the shaft 8 according to the postion of disk 7 with respect to the plate 4.

The aeroplane wings as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 comprise a fixed curved supporting surface 10 provided with an up-curved guard 11 at itsleadingedge for a purpose which will hereinafter appear, and having a stream line trailing edge 12. The said supporting fixed wing 10 is secured to the fuselage by means of longitudinal supports 13 connected together by wing ribs 14, the ends of the drive shaft 8 are secured to the ends of a plurality of end to end interlocked driving rollers 15 along the front edge of the wings, the axes of said driving rollers being located at a suitable point with respect to the guard 11 to prevent air from entering within the wings and below the driven covering as will hereinafter appear. Interspersed along the upper faces of the ribs 1 1 are a plurality of rollers 16 arranged end to end as clearly illustrated in Figure 1, and at suitable points a second series of rollers 17 having their axes below the axes of the rollers 15 are provided. Each-cling the driving rollers 15' and overlying the rollers 16 and 17 is an endless driven covering 18, the slack or return portion of ,the covering leading back above the fixed wing 10 and supported by the rollers 17. The wing structure as shown in Figures 1 and 2 provides a general purpose wing of considerable'lift, the upper covering having a motion from the leading edge toward the trailing edge and passing back inside of the wings above the weight sustaining surface 10. The returning or slack part of the belt is thus protected from air pressure and travels without load, while the upper surface. diminshes the liability of the assimilation of pressure during flight at a point in front of the point of highest camber, the rapidly moving sur face vaulting the air over the camber line and causing it to exert a pressure adjacent the trailing edge which tends to push the aeroplane forward as a whole and increases its speed as imparted by the propeller.

In the modification shown in Figure 3, the

weight sustaining plane is indicated at 19,

said plane being entirely enclosed by an endless covering 20 traveling over a series of upper rollers 21 supported in any suitable manner from the ribs of the wings, the return portion of the covering travelling over a series of rollers 22. The cover is driven by a roller 23 secured to the end of the driven shaft 8 as illustrated in Figure 1. This type of wing covering is especially advantageous in connection with fast planes as its shape is such as to form a stream line, the dead air above the lower driven covering being compressed against the weight sustaining element 19, the upper travelling surface operating in a manner in all respects similar to that described in connection with Figures 1 and 2, and the lower travelling surface moving in the same direction as the translation of the aeroplane tending to increase the banking effect of the air below the plane and thus increasing its lift.

In the modified form shown in Figure 4, the weight sustaining plane 24 is of common and well known fixed construction, but it front upper surface is formed with a pocket or recess 25 for the reception of a series of rollers 26. The leading roller 26a being located in the region of the leading edge of the plane and the last roller 26?) being in the camber region of the plane, and the extremities of these rollers extend into the fuselage where the roller 26a is connected to the shaft 8 and is encircled by a belt 27 for driving the roller 26b. Externally of the fuselage all of the rollers may be encircled by a driving belt 27a to insure rotaton of the rollers 26 interposed between rollers 26a and 266. This type of construction is especially advantageous in the slip-stream of atractor propcllcr, its object being to reduce the bow wave which is ordinarily produced at this poiut. It will be apparent that if desired the rollers 26 may be encircled by a covering, and that the construction may be carried out for the full length of the wing similar to that illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.

The construction illustrated in Figure 5 also shows the use of a plurality of live rollers at effective points on acambered Wing, it being noted that in this type of wing the bottom surface is also curved, and in ordinary practice a condition of low pressure is set up within the upward curve at the front of the bottom surface of the wing. This construction embodies a driven roller 28 in the region of greatest camber, a trailing roller 29, and a third roller 30 having its under surface exposed through the bottom to the under face of the plane, said lower roller rotating in a direction reverse to that of the rotation of the upper rollers. The rollers are driven by means of a belt 31 within the fuselage and encircling a pulley on the drive shaft 8, and acting on the upper side of the ends of 28 and 30 and encircling the end of roller 29. The effect of the roller 28 is to vault the air and thus by imparting tangential motion to the onrushing air stream produces a point of low pressure in the region of greatest camber of the wing tending to lift the plane, the vaulted air stream then passing downwardly and impinging on the tapered rear surface of the wing, its effect being to increase the forward movement of the aeroplane. The roller 29 due to its direction of rotation may be so arranged as to increase lift or to fill up the low pressure area ordinarily produced at the trailing edge of an aeroplane, these functions being controlled by the placing of the axes of the rollers relative to the upper and rear edges of the wing. This area of low pressure is, of course, highly undesirable as its effect is to reduce the speed of the plane. The roller 30 having its lower face exposed produces a tangential effect on the oncoming air and vaults said air into the point of greatest curvature of the under face of the wing, thus filling up an area of low pressure which tends to draw the aeroplane downwardly and retards speed. The effect of all of the rollers co-operativcly is to increase the lift and forward translation of the aeroplane.

The construction shown in Figures 6 and 7 is illustrated in connection with an aileron although applicable to the entire wing if desired. The aileron is indicated at 32 and is rotatable around a hollow shaft member 33 as actuated by suitable controls in the usual manner, and within said hollow shaft 33 is a live shaft 34. extending through the aileron and into the main wing of the aeroplane. The end of the live shaft 34 adjacent one of the ribs 14.- of the main wing is equipped with a pulley 35 encircled by a belt 36 driven by a prolongation of the drive shaft member 8. The opposite end of the live shaft 34 is provided with a pulley 37 and encircled by a belt 38 for driving a pulley 39 hinged or otherwise secured to an entering live roller 40 exposed at the leading edge of the aileron. This form of construction has the property of increasing the efficiency at positive angles of incidence and increasing the drift and downward pressure at negative angles of incidence, thus serving well for an aileron and for thin wings when the camber line is near the front edge of the plane. All such wings as I have shown may be mounted on machines with straight front or given a dihedral angle and can be mounted with some sweep if desired, and may be used on monoplanes, multiplanes and dirigibles.

It will be obvious from a consideration of the invention and its modifications, that the prime purpose of the driven elements is to pass the air rapidly from compressed regions toward regions of less density and when this is accomplished in a curved path the tangential force and reactions are rendered more effcctive. high speed of flight which would cause the wings on account of their curvature to lift more than the weight of the aeroplane, the direction of the motion of the movable elements may be reversed, thus allowing the machine to fly level at its greatest speed without particular manipulation of the elevators or other control devices of the aeroplane.

From the above description it will be apparent that while I have described and claimed the preferred embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that I reserve the right to'make all-changes properly falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In an aeroplane structure. a wing frame, and an element carried by said wing frame and movable independently of the movement of thewing frame in a curved line of less height than its chord.

2. In an aeroplane structure. a wing frame, and an element carried by said wing frame and having movement in a curve toward a surface of different curvature.

3. In an aeroplane structure. a sustaining plane. and a surface element carried by the sustaining plane and having movement independent of the movement of the sustaining plane. the top outer surface only of the element. being exposed to the action of the air.

4. In an aeroplane structure, a sustaining plane, and a surface element carried by the sustaining plane and having movement independent of the sustaining plane. the outer surface only of the element being exposed to the action of the air and having its upper It will also be apparent that at very face movable in the direction opposite to the path of flight of the sustaining plane.

5. In an aeroplane structure, a sustaining plane, and a surfacin element having movement' independent of the sustaining plane, the upper face only of the element being exposed to the action of the air, and having a lower face movable in the direction of the path of flight.

6. In an aeroplane structure, an upwardly arched sustaining plane frame, and a covering on the upper face of the frame movable in a direction opposite to the direction of flight, the upper face only of the covering being exposed to the action of the air.

7. A sustaining plane for aeroplanes comprising a member having a Weight-sustaining, rigid surface and a surfacing element movable independently and transversely of the rigid surface, the upper face of the surfacing element only being exposed to the air.

8. In a flying machine, a plane, rollers arranged in said plane transversely to the travel of said plane, a flexible covering surrounding said rollers, one of said rollers being a driving roller, means to drive said driving roller whereby said flexible covering is driven around said rollers, and all of the top outer surface of said flexible covering arranged to unobstructedly contact with the air through which it travels.

9. In an aeroplane wing structure, a Weight-sustaining, rigid surface, and a surfacing element movable independently of and surrounding said rigid surface.

10. A sustaining wing for aeroplanes having a Weight-sustaining, rigid surface, and a surfacing element encircling and movable independently and transversely of the rigid surface, the outer surface of said surfacing element only being exposed to the air.

11. A sustaining plane having a surface .element maving in a curve having radii diverging from a point eccentric to the upper and lower sides of the plane, and being adapted to vault the air in such a manner as to increase the lift of the plane.

12. A sustaining curved wing for aeroplanes having a surfacing element moving in a curve addendum to the wing curve, the radii of said addendum curve diverging from a point eccentric to the center of perpendicular thickness of the Wing.

13. A wing for flying machines having a fore slope and an aft declivity and a curve merging into the fore and aft portions and surfaced by an element movable independently of the wing.

In witness whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

VICTOR MINOR. 

